Cullingworth Bowling Club News

Champion of Champions sees Cullingworth Bowler Go Close!

Well the final event of the Hebden Royd league season, The Champion of Champions, was staged at Cullingworth…….it very nearly wasn’t! Persistent and continuing rain on the build up to the 10.30am start made the green heavy and patchworked with puddles.

However, 15 hardy bowlers decided to go ahead and give it try, and the first hour or so of bowling was certainly affected by the conditions.

By midday their was an improvement, of sorts, in the weather and the green remarkably drained well and this certainly showed in the bowling……

By this point Martin Bentley of Cullingworth Bowling Club, Ripponden representative Simon Robinson, Mytholmroyd’s Dave Greenwood and Heptonstall’s Matthew Flannagan had all battled through to reach the semi finals.

Martin and Dave were both well up in their semi finals against Simon and Matthew respectively. But, as we all know, and have probably experienced, no game is over until 21 is reached. That being the case Simon and Matthew both fought back from 8 point deficits to get into the games and went on to qualify for the final.

The final itself was a closely fought affair with Simon and Matthew level at 7, before Ripponden’s Simon Robinson moved on to 15-9. Heptonstall’s Matthew Flanagan then hit back to bring the scores back to 15-14, only to see his opponent take control again and take the win with a 21-15 score line.

Some good bowling from all bowlers in the conditions,especially in the final, with congratulations to the experienced Simon Robinson from Ripponden and a special mention to Matthew Flanagan, in his first season with the resurgent Heptonstall club.

Many, many thanks to all at Cullingworth for hosting the event and providing some first class catering, all who attended remarked how they had enjoyed their Cullingworth experience despite the weather.

(Thanks to Fred Rothwell, Hebden Royd League for this input)

Cullingworth’s own player, Martin Bentley, who is captain of our team in the Hebden Royd Friday night league, made an outstanding attempt to win the competition but was just pipped running up to the finishing post. Well done Martin, better luck next year.

Club Secretary Rosemary Spencer said that the conditions were pretty appalling but everyone appeared to enjoy the day, especially with bacon sandwiches, delicious cakes and hot drinks helping to keep spirits up! Well done Cullingworth, we yet again displayed our unique brand of hospitality.